SilverZ

I was at the Sansweet Star Wars presentation is SDCC yesterday afternoon and saw the DVD footage. When I got home this evening I was surprised that there hadn’t been posts from others in attendance, as the statements regarding the DVD release and the image quality of the footage shown was outrageous, to put it lightly.

Sansweet began his presentation by rolling the opening credits to Star Wars with the reinstated pre-ANH crawl. White ringing, that resembled edge enhancement, could clearly be seen on the inside edges of the yellow text during the crawl, though overall the image was very clean. The footage was shown on four front projectors throughout the room.

After this footage is where Sansweet addressed the complaints about the lack of anamorphic enhancement. Alarm bells started ringing for me when he assured the audience that “the black bars are still there, but are very, very small and hardly noticeable… not even an issue” or something along those lines. It seemed as though Sansweet did not grasp the fundamentals of 16:9 encoding on DVD, contorting the complaint into meaning that a group of internet users were upset that the movies were not being presented in a 16:9 framed image, instead of the correct concern that the discs are not anamorphically enhanced versions of the films that retain their correct 2:35:1 composition.

The next statement that Sansweet made was about the versions presented as being from “the highest quality laserdisc masters made, digitally restored frame by frame,” and that, “these movies look fantastic”. Which of course is true, fine and dandy if not for the fact that video technology has made leaps and bounds beyond the intended purpose of that “restoration”. Those technicalities were obviously not explored.

The jokey bits about the NASA-esque footage and windowboxed teeny-tiny footage was intermixed with the hard sell.

Then, the real deal was shown. The cantina scene with Han shooting Greedo first was shown and received a huge round of cheers when Han, did, as they are pushing so hard and handing out buttons to state, shoot first. But, oh boy, was there something wrong with what was on screen. Please set aside the issue of the loss of image resolution that the 4:3 letterboxed discs, as what was seen on screen was far more concerning:

Deinterlacing artifacts were visible throughout the clip, showing as horizontal combing in every bit of motion and in every shot transition. Speaking with my friends that I attended with, they all saw it clear as day as well. Not good. I’m rather lousy at understanding IVTC, but what I saw on screen was not acceptable.

I was rather startled at the dismissive attitude from Steve Sansweet towards the informed concerns highlighted from forum users and industry professionals, and the calculated assurances that he made about the supposed quality of the sources used for this project. His final comments on the issue were basically along the lines of “George considers these versions dead to him, so you should be grateful you’re getting them at all.”

I was very disappointed in his stance and seeming ignorance towards the real issues with the DVD release, and to wave away legitimate quality issues as the ravings of an over-demanding fan base was frankly startling. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and am interested in the preservation of the original versions of these movies for posterity, and yesterday’s presentation left me with the impression that such a goal is not in any way shared by Lucasfilm. Unfortunate.

I’ve attempted to recount the experience as accurately as possible, but it’s been a long trip and I’m sure I’ve missed details. If there are any omissions or inaccuracies, hopefully some other members can share, correct, and confirm what they saw as well.

After this footage is where Sansweet addressed the complaints about the lack of anamorphic enhancement. Alarm bells started ringing for me when he assured the audience that “the black bars are still there, but are very, very small and hardly noticeable… not even an issue” or something along those lines. It seemed as though Sansweet did not grasp the fundamentals of 16:9 encoding on DVD, contorting the complaint into meaning that a group of internet users were upset that the movies were not being presented in a 16:9 framed image, instead of the correct concern that the discs are not anamorphically enhanced versions of the films that retain their correct 2:35:1 composition.

The next statement that Sansweet made was about the versions presented as being from “the highest quality laserdisc masters made, digitally restored frame by frame,” and that, “these movies look fantastic”. Which of course is true, fine and dandy if not for the fact that video technology has made leaps and bounds beyond the intended purpose of that “restoration”. Those technicalities were obviously not explored.

For a company that for decades has prided itself on the quality of their theatrical and home video presentations, it's absolutely astonishing how aloof, daft, and obtuse they're being in regards to this issue.

Thanks for the report, Jared. I've been wondering if we'd have any surprises on the SW DVD front this weekend, and. . . nope. Same old bull****.

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"The good news is that all that blood is actually ketchup. The bad news, however, is that all that ketchup is actually blood."

You guys should be rimming George Lucas for even making these movies in the first place, much less releasing them on a format that's been out for ten or so years--at least as long as the letterbox mastering we'll be getting was done.

I, for one, can't wait to grab my ankles (so the Wal-Mart cashier can get my wallet out) to buy these. FINALLY I can watch Star Wars without having to see the damned Outrider! I hate SOTE.

After this footage is where Sansweet addressed the complaints about the lack of anamorphic enhancement. Alarm bells started ringing for me when he assured the audience that “the black bars are still there, but are very, very small and hardly noticeable… not even an issue” or something along those lines. It seemed as though Sansweet did not grasp the fundamentals of 16:9 encoding on DVD, contorting the complaint into meaning that a group of internet users were upset that the movies were not being presented in a 16:9 framed image, instead of the correct concern that the discs are not anamorphically enhanced versions of the films that retain their correct 2:35:1 composition.

The next statement that Sansweet made was about the versions presented as being from “the highest quality laserdisc masters made, digitally restored frame by frame,” and that, “these movies look fantastic”. Which of course is true, fine and dandy if not for the fact that video technology has made leaps and bounds beyond the intended purpose of that “restoration”. Those technicalities were obviously not explored.

For a company that for decades has prided itself on the quality of their theatrical and home video presentations, it's absolutely astonishing how aloof, daft, and obtuse they're being in regards to this issue.

Thanks for the report, Jared. I've been wondering if we'd have any surprises on the SW DVD front this weekend, and. . . nope. Same old bull****.

Exactly. George created THX and enforced stringent guidelines for theaters carrying his films. Obviously, it's all about the benjamins from here on out.

The evidence is in the sheer number of high end licensees of SW product. "Milk this thing for all it's worth" is the new motto. Hell, even Hasbro is living by it - everything shown at comic con was a rehash!

In his defense, I would do the same damn thing if I had the rights to all things SW.

I wonder how many people who whine and complain about this Sept. 12 release will actually go out and buy them. Then out of that many, how many will come out and admit it, thus revealing their own internal hypocricy...

I'm buying these sets, more as a collector's item than anything else. I don't view this set as the "truest" OT anyway. Too much stuff is out of continuity with the PT, which pre-dates the OT from a story standpoint. As much as whiny OT purists might not wish it so, that is an undeniable fact that must be accounted for by a responsible storyteller.

The hypocricy of fans just never ceases to amaze me. For years, they beg, create useless web petitions saying all they want is the true OT they saw in the theaters. Now they get it, and what happens...yep, more whining.

I don't view this set as the "truest" OT anyway. Too much stuff is out of continuity with the PT, which pre-dates the OT from a story standpoint. As much as whiny OT purists might not wish it so, that is an undeniable fact that must be accounted for by a responsible storyteller.

Please tell me you're just trolling, buddy, because if you're not--holy ****--that's one of the most ill-informed things I've ever had the pleasure of reading on these boards.

If the prequels were fleshed out first, and then came the originals, then how exactly did the originals get to be "out of continuity" with the prequels?

The answer is: The prequel storyline only existed in the broadest sense of the term, and even then only functioned to serve as a backstory for the characters who needed one in the originals.

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The hypocricy of fans just never ceases to amaze me. For years, they beg, create useless web petitions saying all they want is the true OT they saw in the theaters. Now they get it, and what happens...yep, more whining.

Nobody's complaining about getting the original versions--that's cool and all. But when everyone was begging for the originals, they were also expecting that, if they ever were released, that they'd be getting the same treatment that pretty much every other DVD has gotten for the last six or seven years. But no, we're getting transfers which were made thirteen years ago and were fine for the time, but are going to look horrible by today's standards.

If anyone's being hypocritical in this deal, it's (guess who?) Lucasland. One of their biggest mantras over the years has been presentation quality, but they're treating the films that made them what they are as a mere afterthought. They're stuck on the second discs as "bonus features" along with video game trailers and such. Technically, they're not even selling the originals, but they're sure making a huge deal about them being available again. Selling "Han Shoots First" t-shirts, and buttons, and whatnot. Obviously the big selling point of these discs is the originals, but when they're questioned about the quality, it turns into "oh, we're just really having fun with these versions" and "you're lucky to even be getting them at all."

Lucasland is trying to have it both ways with this release, and that's what the whiny, complainy, hypocritical OT purists like myself have such a problem with.

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"The good news is that all that blood is actually ketchup. The bad news, however, is that all that ketchup is actually blood."

Without trying to cost anyone their job, the Anamorphic, cleaned up transefer of the originals are rumored to be on tap for next years SW DVD release. I will work hard on getting a definative answer on this ASAP.